Apple's iPad: Year One Video • (Leo & me at 0:55)

1.30.2007

FYI, I am not moping and droopy, despite the previous two entries. What I am is tired and tired. And sad, too--but if I was really truly down I would call someone to come keep me company, not bleat into my blog. My bleating is not a call for help; it is merely journaling so that I can look back and go, "Wow, Dude! That month fucking SUCKED!" So, no worries, not about me anyhow.

Seymour's favorite Uncle passed away yesterday. My mom just called to let me know that my favorite (great) Auntie passed away this morning at age ninety-fuckyouforasking. She was ready to go, but I'm never ready for anyone I love to leave me.

I am actually glad that Leelo and Mali are still awake (and I will go retrieve Leelo from atop the TV cabinet eventually); I'm glad to have company until Seymour gets home.

I do not like having a husband who has to work until 10 PM every night and then take the CalTrain home after that via his bike because his car broke down in an "and then parts started dropping out of the bottom" way last Thursday. I do not like that he has also been gone for the past two weekends. Even if his projectis totally amazing. Long-term solo parenting makes me grumpier than fuck, and too sleepy to stay awake even during my ten minute morning bathtime reading quickie. I do not like that Leelo has been waking up at 5 AM most mornings. I do not like being fried when I am spending so much time alone with my kids. I do not like that my house is a shittier shitheap than usual. I do not like that I yelled at everyone this morning, and slammed the bathroom door in Seymour's face when he questioned my doing so.

I do like the idea of the sidecar that I will be rewarding myself with, once the kids are all in bed.

1.29.2007

So, I had Iz watch Baby Got Back. The salaciousness went right over her head; the healthy talented women who could dance like hell and were proud of their bodies (bodies very much like what she's going to end up with) seemed to make a big impression.

I think one viewing is probably enough, though--I don't want her to scrutinize it because I'm too tired to field queries such as, "What does 'Me so horny' mean?"

Now she wants to listen to more rap and hip hop. Any suggestions? I'm good up to about... 1994. Then I started working and breeding and fell off the face of the contemporary music world.

1.27.2007

She didn't want to put a jacket on top of her sweater because it made her look "fat." Calm discussion about different body types ensued, about how she is a healthy girl and only a doctor can tell you if you're overweight but, FUCK. I asked her if she has a reflexive negative reaction to overweight people, and she said, "Yes, but I know it's wrong."

She joined another child in unkindly chanting "Leelo go away! Leelo go away!" When his only crime was sitting in the wrong car seat. Not as calm discussion of family loyalty and the need to be her brother's champion even when it's hard ensued. She sobbed that, basically, she couldn't overcome the peer pressure.

I already wrote to the local snk parenting board, asking after therapists with experience counseling autism siblings, and came up with zilch. I am really starting to fret about my girl. She is at a watershed point in her emotional development, and needs some impartial support.

Turns out the bridge insurance folks are not entirely tight-assed cheapskate bastards, after all. I picked up Leelo's Fukalin prescription today; without an insurance buffer that sweet little cocktail of focus and aggression cost more than four dollars per pill. Ouch.

1.26.2007

Dude, Iz got to touch a coelacanth during today's behind-the-scenes tour at the Steinhart Aquarium/Cal Academy of Sciences (Seymour arranged it, and we played hooky with her teachers' full blessings). The tours are something new they're trying out for their 2008 re-opening in Golden Gate Park, and ours totally kicked ass. It was as close to geek heaven as this fish nerd is likely to get. Someone even asked me if I was a fisheries biologist, so enthusiastic was I. Oh, and Iz had a good time, too--she totally held her own even though she was the only kid on the tour, and even knew things that the docent didn't (kind of like when we went to Año Nuevo to see the elephant seals and she schooled the guide on the Ohlone chert/obsidian trading system).

This is Iz during her typically freeform and chaotic birthday 8th birthday party. Jenijen and her partner Corbie gave Iz a snake and critter show for her birthday, and it ruled. If you live in the Bay Area, you simply must hire Corbie for your kid's next party. He does Mad Science parties, too, and his dry ice in a bucket of water demonstration may have been the party's highlight.

Iz, ever on the invention warpath, has invented the Flossomatic for people like her who dislike cleaning between their teeth.

We have demanded that Iz start picking out her own outfits now that she's eight. I don't get why she hasn't shown more interest; many of her friends have been doing so since before they could talk. Anyhow, whoops. Maybe not such a good idea.

Mali the fashion plate. With her hair contained. She is two with a vengeance, has a bucket of "no" in each hand, and might get dropped of on the doorstep of the next person who tells me how cute she is.

1.24.2007

My thanks to everyone who asked about donating blood for my dad. He is in the Keyser Permanent network, so anyone who lives near a Keyser blood donation center can go there (you don't have to be a member), donate blood, and give them my dad's name. If you are interested please write me at aba_help AT yahoo.com. Thanks again.

Wanted to let you know that I spoke with both Ulla (Alyx's mom) and Therapist L, and that they are both in favor of continuing the Wednesday faciliated playgroups. Ulla says that Alyx has no problem letting her know when she is either uncomfortable or doesn't want to do something. So that is reassuring.

Also, I am as you might suspect fairly upset about the way Leelo's incident at school was handled, especially as Seymour and I were never included in any of the school's discussions or decisions, merely informed. Though I am very grateful to you for being so proactive with regards to B.I. and the behavioral plan.

Even though my instinct is to throttle everyone involved in the incident and aftermath, I suspect that approach won't exactly help our position. Instead I would like to talk to the principal and the K teachers about what my friend Dee suggested, about making this "a teachable moment about giving someone the benefit of the doubt, even if he pushes you..." Also I can volunteer to go into the classes to read the kids books like Ian's Walk and Andy and His Yellow Frisbee, and donate copies to the classes. What do you think?

Finally, Seymour and I were already wondering what the hell Leelo is doing in that class. (I know this has been your take for some time.) Not necessarily because of the instruction or supervision, but because Leelo isn't really like the other kids in his class. They are all either conversationally verbal, have conversational receptive language, are potty trained, or all three. I don't see how the staff could address Leelo's needs with respect to the majority's needs. And I am sick of seeing worksheets coming home that were obviously done for him.

My friends have suggested we look into the county classes. Seymour and I are wondering about private schools. Jersergirl suggested that I contact Supervisor Andil to ask about private schools on the peninsula, but I wanted to first ask you if you'd already done that before we looked at schools last yet. ALSO is not an option because they don't take kids at the K+ level who aren't somewhat conversationally verbal.

1.23.2007

Mali didn't really sleep until 3:30 AM! Weird fever, whimpery pseudo-sleep, then what I guess must have been a night terrors attack.

Leelo woke up at 4:00 AM again! Didn't go back to sleep!

On the way out the door to school, Leelo discovered that the cat had barfed, and proceeded to trample through it, necessitating an outfit change when we were already late for our meeting with Teacher S!

Teacher S informed me that the parents of the girl Leelo pushed had talked to the principal and were very upset and that the compromise they had all agreed on without even calling me was to ban Leelo from the playground during General Ed!

(This is so not fucking happening long-term, not without a very polite but firm confrontation.)

Took Mali to my work day at Iron Gate. Teacher L informed me that they rock-salt laden play doh I'd made was not usable for two-year-olds because they will eat the playdoh and rock salt is poisonous!

I have actually been in a fairly good mood all day, because, really, this is all getting a bit silly. But I really do appreciate all the kind words and helpful suggestions, thank you.

1.22.2007

He vocalized and stimmed and had ansty-pants to an almost unmanageable extent all the way to and into school. The other kids were looking at him like he was an alien--thought it was kind of cool to see that sort of focus in an autism classroom.

I asked his aide Rosie to call me if he got really out of control. And then I walked the long way out of the school so I wouldn't run into any parents I know because I didn't want them to notice that I was crying behind my sunglasses. Yay sunglasses!

On the drive home I wondered whether Leelo really does belong in his class. It seems to me that all the other kids have at least one strength, be it academic or verbal or physical or receptive, whereas Leelo doesn't really have any of that plus he is a big behavioral challenge. The rest of the kids seem fairly docile. I don't know where else he would go, though.

I also wondered if we should put his playgroups with Alyx on hiatus. His unpredictable behavior has her starting to look at him skeptically. I don't want her to come to playgroup if she doesn't want to come, and more importantly I'm worried that Leelo might push her. Supervisor M advised me to ask both Alyx and her mom about it.

It also occurred to me that really intense depression feels sort of like being drunk. And it's free! Guess I'll put off buying that bottle of Cointreau for another week.

When I picked Leelo up, Rosie mentioned that he had eventually calmed down, though he had had a toileting accident (#1, thankfully--so far he doesn't do #2 at school). I thanked her and took Leelo off to his first OT session in six weeks, which made him very very happy.

I returned home to a voice mail from his Teacher S, letting me know that Leelo had had an "incident" at school with a general ed kid, and that I needed to come in early tomorrow to talk to her about it. No details. FUCK.

Thankfully Teacher S had reaached Supervisor M, who filled me in. Apparently the general ed kids came onto the playground when Leelo's class was there, something they do not normally do. Rosie and Leelo were sitting on a bench, and Rosie asked Leelo if he wanted to go play on the playground. He responded, as he frequently does to a request he doesn't like, by pushing the nearest person. Unfortunately in this case it was a little girl who was sitting next to her teacher--and they both fell off the bench and were both pissed and they had to tell the principal and apparently Leelo will most likely be banned from the playground when NT kids are there if not totally. Which would suck because exercise is one of the only things that calms him down. And now we have to come up with a "behavioral plan" addendum to Leelo's IEP.

Apparently the two people he pushed are both fine, but shaken, which is understandable. I will apologize to whomever I need to, and profusely, but I am worried about the unofficial aftermath, about unfriendly parents and about Leelo being stigmatized (not that he would notice). People are generally not kind or understanding in these scenarios, especially those who view the Special Ed world as one that intersects with theirs only by a special dispensation on which they were not consulted.

I spent a lot of the rest of the day wondering what families like ours are supposed to do. More help? I am tired of having people in my home so much of the time, much as I love the wonderful members of Leelo's team.

Leelo spent much of the afternoon terrorizing his two sisters, despite my best efforts. I really do try, but there are three of them and one of me, and I need both Mali and Leelo within my line of vision at all times. It is just not right that Iz and Mali have to be constantly on guard and scared in their own house. Especially Mali--she just fucking turned two. She is starting to cry any time Leelo comes anywhere near her. I spent a lot of the evening holding her, which then meant I couldn't really interact with Leelo--Mali's crying, at close range, makes him cry.

But he pulled through the crying. And he did come up with enough episodes of interaction and good eye contact and good listening to keep me optimistic. He verbally refused to put on his pajamas. I ran out of the room for moment to tend to Mali, and when I returned he had taken a pair of pants out of his drawer and put them on. For him, that is awesome. He had really great listening, in terms of following all sorts of purely verbal instructions regarding going over to places and turning off lights, etc., and more subtle directions such as a suggestion that the item he was looking for might be under his stool. That head of his, we're going to find a way in one of these days.

1.21.2007

Leelo is in such an odd space right now. He always has a shitty winter.

Right now he is on a meds holiday. Fukalin was fabulous at first, but after a few weeks the attention and language benefits waned and we got a whole lot of aggression instead. You can't imagine how much fun it is to hang out with a kid who may deck you, or anyone nearby, at any moment. If this keeps up we are going to have to go into seclusion. Or do something.

Leelo spent much of the holiday break pushing anyone who came within five feet of him: My dad (who because of his various heart/blood conditions ended up with huge bleeding gouges down his cheek), kids at the trampoline arena, Seymour's mom who was already afraid of him and despite our best efforts, Hayley and basically anyone who would come over, kids in the jumpy house at Sage's house even though jumpies are usually a source of pure enjoyment no matter how crowded--and the crowner of pushing a little kid off of playstructure at the park. The meds holiday started that next day, Jan. 16th.

There were some obvious differences in his non-Fukalined behavior. He was distractable and disorganized for academics and interactions, but was giving me hugs, was much calmer for me unless provoked by overstimulating environments, and was much calmer for Babysitter A (especially during Iz's traditional birthday sushi dinner). He has also been keeping his shoes on more, and we're seeing more of the sweet Leelo we love.

Supervisor M said that during his Jan. 17th home session Leelo was able to work longer without rewards.

He has been asking for us more lately, and has been noticing our facial expressions more. If we're making particularly grumpy faces he will use his hands to mold our mouths into smiles.

His aggression is not totally gone, but it is mostly turned inward and is frustration-based. I appreciate the longer ramp-up to self-injury, and to attacking his sisters. I do not appreciate that he has started waking up at 4:00 AM, or that he is literally climbing the walls all day long (I woke up this morning to the sound of glass smashing all over the kitchen from Leelo climbing on top of the fridge to get at what I thought was a secret madeleine stash, and his then dislodging a empty Strauss milk bottle onto the stone countertop. I am still finding bits of glass everywhere in the kitchen).

Dr. Sheyenne has suggested that we return Leelo to the Land of Fukalin after a week off to see if the meds vacation will "reset" his Fukalin tolerance. As mentioned, he had a wonderful initial three-four weeks on Fukalin, but then--according to Dr. Sheyenne--started metabolizing it too quickly. Then we had less organization and focus and that unnerving aggression.

If the Fukalin reboot doesn't work well then we'll see if alternating Adderupp and Fukalin months can keep him in a good place. If that's a wash then we'll try Stratifera, which is supposed to have less of the stimulant-based aggression side effects. Bummer is that it takes five weeks to kick in.

Funny side note about Fukalin: we have bridge health insurance for January as Seymour's new benefits don't fully embrace us until Feb. 1. Guess who the bridge folks wouldn't insure? Was it the two-year-old who keeps getting sent to the ER and who has been hospitalized twice for respiratory infections? Is it the older girl who has had three costly and lengthy ER visits due to febrile seizures? Nope. It is the kid with the $50/month Fukalin prescription. Apparently that is a pre-existing condition. Bastards. Leelo, do not get sick or injured for nine more days!

Here are some other crappy Leeloisms of late. Meds? Winter? Wish I knew.

We tried him on 2 mg of melatonin as a sleep aid, for about a week. No noticeable effect.

His spontaneous speech is really minimal and also mushy. He's also back to refusing to state colors. He doesn't want to put in the effort to look at objects in question and so will tell you that they're all blue. These kinds of regressions are painful because it not only takes such effort to help Leelo acquire skills, but then he can lose them so quickly.

So I am trying to focus on positive things like singing Shake Your Sillies Out with Mali, which Leelo loves and which they will actually sing together; counting goldfish crackers up to 10 (more reciting than counting, but hey); and the fact that, for now, when he wakes up at 4:00 in the morning he will often let us bring him in bed with us to snuggle and then will go back to sleep. I haven't gotten to really snuggle with him in a long, long time.

Also we are in the middle of transitioning Leelo's space in our house. Right now his therapy is taking place in the office; soon we will get all the rest of the office equipment out of there an up in our living room, and Leelo will have his very own for real space just for him. Should help. I am hoping it helps.

1.19.2007

My mom just sent out the latest on my dad. He had quintuple bypass surgery on his heart five years ago and has been battling leukemia for more than a year. Please think good thoughts.

Just to let you know that Dad isn't doing as well as we had hoped. Heis very short of breath, no energy, and having angina again like before hisbypass. We saw the Oncologist today and he is starting him on Procrit, ared cell booster as he is so anemic. It will take about 6 weeks to showimprovement. His white count is still way too high so he is upping the chemopill. We are supposed to meet Auntie M and Uncle Adolf in Florida the 1st week ofMarch so will see how it all pans out. If the procrit doesn't do the job ofrelieving his anemia he will have to start on regular blood transfusions.He sees the cardiologist on Monday and now has a stenotic aortic valve.Poor guy, he didn't need that. He may need surgery again but with all theother risks, who knows if they will consider him a candidate. I will letyou know more about that after the visit on Monday. He is still working [limo driver] andcontinues to enjoy that and I think it is good for him to keep it up. Willlet you know what the cardiologist says next week.

If anyone knows how to make blood donations in someone's name, please let me know. Also if anyone wants to make a blood donation in his name, thank you thank you thank you and please contact me.

Here is the thing about having the holidays and Iz's birthday and four solid weeks of relatives and friends visiting coinciding with one's husband needing to work late and one's children forgetting how to sleep before 11 PM and being on the team to start up a Special Ed PTA and unrelenting ant invasions and helming an intense phase of the remodeling process and working at a co-op nursery school: My real life gets backlogged.

This means that I am doing a shitty job of keeping on top of the things that really matter to me: Leelo's program, being a good partner, being a thoughtful parent, being an available friend, and correspondence.

While I have friends who manage schedules like mine in double portions and topped with even more crappity crap--while working--I have realized that trying to keep up with the superbeings in my life is not realistic for a mere mortal.

Nuclear holidaysWe are not going anywhere next Christmas or Thanksgiving. People can come visit us in small controlled doses.

Putting Mali to preschool pastureNo Iron Gate for Mali next year. I love the school, but can't commit the time without committing myself--especially next year when and if we really do build our house. It's drop-kick drop-off Montessori preschool for you, my wee barnacle.

Any other suggestions are welcome, or stories of your own successes. Don't worry, I won't begin actively seeking mundane types for another week or so, so you're safe to contribute--for now.

1.17.2007

Iz came in third in the spelling bee. Third among 240 3rd - 5th graders, third among the twelve classroom reps who competed today. The first and second placers were in 5th grade, so that means she beat the entire 3rd and 4th grades, and 96% of the 5th grade. And she is the youngest student in a school populated by some of the smartest kids in town.

Her teacher called me during the school day (this has never happened before) to let me know how proud the teachers were of Iz. The teacher said that the audience was cheering and hollering each time Iz got up because our girl was "...so little and cute and smart."

Iz is feeling pretty damn good about herself, I must say. And I supported her right to brag to me all afternoon long. Later on we had a conversation about how she was fully justified in declaring herself an excellent speller--if asked or provoked--but that random and tangential bragging would be a social irritant.

I guess I can stop worrying about whether or not she's really ready for her school. I could write down all sorts of additional qualifications or reservations but instead will settle for simply being really fucking proud.

Our oldest turned eight (8!) years old yesterday, which she celebrated with sushi and a haircut, bomp bomp.

And that's all I have to say until I can finish digging myself out from under the fuckedupedness resulting from upgrading both Blogger and Ecto and having both tools (term intentional) shit on me. And if anyone knows how to get this barnacle of a Blogger banner off my site, please let me know. I spent five precious minutes going through settings and cruising the Blogger Help site, and found no information whatsoever.

1.12.2007

Apologies for excluding the most important point from the last post's house design ramblings. We got approved! Conditionally, that is. As I recently wrote to Ep:

It's conditionally approved, pending approval (verbal already given) from the CDF (Fire) with regards to both design and grading; future approval of our grading plan (we've been told it will be no problem but it is a separate meeting); walkpath/easment exchange approval which is still waiting for the sewer re-survey to be submitted (tracking down surveyor, no idea why he hasn't resubmitted already) before it can go up for its second Board of Supervisors meeting for approval, perhaps next month; assuming no one appeals as they have 4 - 6 weeks to do so but an official appeal costs $400. So, approved but conditional.

Both bored and confused? Me too. Basically, it would be silly in a moderate-to-low risk way to start big-ticket next steps like designing the construction documents, but we feel safe enough to initiate fun next-step tasks like selecting appliances. I'm going to be eBaying like it's 2001, baby. There is absolutely no reason anyone should walk into an appliance showroom and pay retail when your friend The Internet is willing to help. Reconditioned is the way to go.

Time to go get Mr. Leelo. I haven't been able to write much about him because he is having such a tough time recently and thinking about it too much makes me cry, but he is still the world's cutest little mop-head and snuggler and I am grateful to Babysitter K for watching Mali this morning so I can go spend some one-on-one time with Leelo before today's Leelo team meeting. He loves that.

I do wonder if Leelo would be doing better if he was an only child with a less-busy mom. How's that for a rider on an otherwise innocuous post about stupid house stuff!

1.10.2007

This is the sort of thing that gives me hives (*cough*), proud as I am: Iz beat out the 39 other kids in her class for the honor of representing them in the school-wide 3rd - 5th grade spelling bee. And she wants me to come watch the competition next week. Gaaaah!

I am nervous about attending because I can't tolerate tension. I almost threw up yesterday during the Design Review meeting.

Not because our house project was the last one on the agenda and we had to wait 3.5 hours to be heard and I hadn't calculated that into my paper-thin babysitting coverage--Seymour went home for a bit, and Marroqui kindly agreed to watch Leelo and Iz instead of cleaning.

Not because Mali attended the meeting with me--she slept for two hours, let me read her a couple of books, was placated with a brownie that one of the architects brought, and then Seymour arrived just as our hearing started and played with her.

Not because our neighbor Nad showed up out of the goodness of his heart to support us and then waited the entire time when he should have been at work.

Not because, what with the primary architect and project manager having first driven the first leg of their two-hour round trip just to be at the meeting and then having to sit quietly for three hours, I might as well have walked to the nearest ATM, extracted $20 bills every few minutes, and handed them to anyone who walked by.

Well, maybe my nausea drew from all of those things--but what made me really want to barf was watching the two projects before us explode. All sorts of neighbors showed up to brawl with each other over sight lines and privacy and views being blocked, and houses being almost as big as the additions they themselves built a few years beforehand. It was awful to be in the same room.

(My thought is that ideally I would like people to respect each other's wishes and tastes, and that I like neighborhoods to be somewhat architecturally cohesive--but that unless your neighbor's proposal violates an existing code, then you are SOL and it's none of your business. You signed away your right to protest non-code issues when you bought the fucking place. But I am tired and grouchy and think it's deplorable when people get the house they want and then try to deny others the same.)

Anyhow. I don't know if I will be able to go to the spelling bee and watch cute kids compete without vomiting. I played chess with Iz on Sunday and it took all my willpower plus a few sharp words from Seymour to keep me from bolting mid-game. (I got my butt whomped anyhow.)

While I've been good (I think) about encouraging Iz to consider that she has already won the first level--which is damn cool--and that it is good to learn how to both win and lose graciously, and to remember that she has already won a school-wide 3rd - 5th grade competition (poetry slam), she is still freaking out a bit. I wonder which one of us is closer to losing it. I hope it's me.

1.08.2007

Yay, first day back to school, post-winter break! I have been ready to drop-kick my darling children back to class since, oh, Monday December 25th. So tired already due to overload that, I have discovered, is not all that interesting even to people who happen to be my mother. Regardless, I am not quite sure if I'm going to make it through tomorrow without redecorating our walls with jellied brains. Cross your fingers for me.

7:45 Get all kids dressed fed and out the door by this time as Seymour has agreed to both drive Leelo to school and do Iz's carpool because

8:00 Meet with Fire Dept. so they can see our revised plans that will allow our house to not burn down as much in the case of a fire and whose approval we cannot go to Design Review without

9:00 Work Iron Gate with Mali

11:30 Iron Gate is over. Hope to God that JM doesn't have any problems picking up Leelo from school and bringing him to Iron Gate along with her daughter Alyx (Alyx's sister Clara is in Mali's class)

12:00 Pillage The Hole for foodstuffs as it is my once-yearly duty to provide food for the Iron Gate night class and I'm sure as fuck not cooking anything. I have faith in my good taste where purchased treats are concerned, and will not feel guilty that I chose to buy rather than bake. Feel grateful that co-feeders are JP and LB, both of whom know what to do.

12:30 Leelo speech therapy with Sage after two weeks off

1:00 Drive home and prep Leelo for session with Therapist L. Maybe lunch for me and Mali? Ensure that Mali doesn't fall asleep, too--I need her to nap later. Call CS to ensure that she will be picking up Iz from school and keeping her for a bit.

1:30 Leelo Home Therapy Session with Therapist L.

1:45 Drive downtown and hope like hell that Mali chooses to sleep now as I haven't been able to find anyone to mind her during the

2:00 Design Review down at the County offices. This is the big meeting: if we get approval, we get to build. If the neighbor who--as we just found out last week--has five square feet of yard underlying our driveway chooses to come and make a stink despite the fact that we offered to show them our plans/chat with them several times over the last week, then we could have a delay. Ignorant derailing dickheads are always a possibility even though we put notices in all our neighbors' mailboxes inviting them to an open house this weekend for anyone who wanted to see our plans or model or ask questions about our intentions.

3:30 Hope that the DR doesn't last until now otherwise I'll have to send Seymour home to watch Leelo as this is when Therapist L gets out and I've not been able to find anyone to watch Leelo either and it's not as though I can just ask someone randomly as my son had been assaulting everyone who comes near him during the last two weeks.

4:00 Marroqui arrives to clean house. Which I don't see how I'm supposed to tidy beforehand unless I do it now and I am exhausted. Someone ideally will go get Iz at some point.

5:00 Prep Iron Gate food, feed kids, fill hip flask.

6:30 Babysitter K arrives to watch kids so I can go set up for Iron Gate night class as Seymour needs to work

7:00 Iron Gate night class. I am soooo bringing my computer!

10:00 Class over. Go home, hope like hell that all the kids are asleep and that I can go right to bed.

After almost six years of patch- and glasses-based vision therapy to correct her exotropia, Iz gets to lose the specs that Leelo destroyed three months ago anyhow.

My oldest was so thrilled after the ophthalmologist's proclamation that she didn't start nagging me with unreasonable demands for almost five minutes!

In other news, the fine folks from Amphigory wrote to let us know that Iz is now the youngest person in their Special Effects hair dye examples gallery (scroll down). Since she's not the youngest person I know about, it may be time to start colorizing Mali's 'do so as to secure our family's position.

1.06.2007

Seeing as Leelo's gone through three outfits so far today (all while I was at a birthday tea with Iz and her also-Caprican grandmother, poor Seymour), this link is very timely. Via SW on my local SNK Yahoo! Group:

It's been a rough couple of weeks over here at Leelo's house. Too busy to detail it at the moment, so I'll just add a new tag to my quiver, to balance the "autism acceptance" one I use during Leelo's better weeks. Right now, autism sucks.

1.04.2007

Our main holidaze 2006 gifts to friends and family were mix CD's. I really like this year's set and feel very comfortable telling anyone who doesn't to fuck right off.

This year's mix is remarkable for being contemporary--almost every song is from the last two years. About half of the tunes were sent my way by Seymour; a few of the others came via Captain Blog and Skip and SJ, and the rest fell through the cracks of my cave's ceiling and onto my head. Not everyone got the same set, but the core was:

Julie Delpy's song is not really that great, but if you've seen her perform the original version in its original context, then you know that the only two other cases in which desperately inappropriate love has reached such cathartic heights were "BSG's Unfinished Business," and Buffy's "Smashed." I do believe people take smack to feel the way I felt after those three shows, and that song is as close as I'm going to get for now. At least until Seymour gets home from another late late night at work...